One of Their Own
by Hcaz
Summary: A series of oneshots documenting the interactions between Korra and Tenzin's family. Story One: Like a Mother: Korra discovers Pema's maternal instincts are not limited to her children.


What's up, ? I've been chilling around, browsing fics in this section, and I've decided I'm going to publish my first fanfic! This is a series of oneshots based around the interactions between Korra and Tenzin's family, because honestly, the airbender family needs more love in the show! Without any further ado, I present you the first story of One of Their Own.

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Like a Mother

She wasn't sure of the exact hour when she woke up (the clock was on Tenzin's side of the bed), but the cool breeze and ethereal silence outside told Pema it was the earliest hours of the morning.

Lethargically, Pema struggled to figure out the reason of her sudden arousal. She didn't feel hot in the least, so she knew it wasn't yet another night sweat caused by her ongoing pregnancy. Nor was it a nightmare of a tragic turn of events that could result in her unborn child's stillbirth. Her mind felt inactive and dull due to the lack of sleep, which became instantly evident as she racked her brain for an answer as to why she woke up.

After several seconds of slow, methodical thinking, Pema remembered a scream intruding on her slumber. Neither Jinora nor Ikki had a history of nightmares, so the pregnant woman doubted the shriek came from them, and the cry was too effeminate and "squealy" to have come from Meelo. That left only one suspect in her investigation: Korra.

She knew both she and the baby would be better off getting sleep (and if Tenzin ever found out, he would be happier, if his constant dotage of his wife were anything to go by) but _she was a mother, _and she was going to help her young teenager, even if she wasn't actually her daughter.

Slowly inching out of bed, she breathed a sigh of relief when it did not creak, which would have been guaranteed to wake up a notoriously light-sleeping Tenzin. Her body fully awake and aware of her intentions, she silently gilded out the open door. She may not have been an airbender, but even the impatient Korra could notice she moved like one. She quietly made her way across the courtyard to the guest bedroom building, making a mental note to herself to wake up this early more often and enjoy the enveloping calm and silence.

Rather than charge into Korra's room and risk waking the girl up should she have fallen back asleep, Pema crept up to the window and peeked in at the teenage girl.

"It's okay, Naga," Pema overheard the girl whisper to her enormous animal companion, "just a bad dream." Korra lay her head on the polar bear dog's fluffy head as she said it.

_It's not okay, _Pema thought to herself. The girl was troubled and she knew it. Being holed up in the White Lotus compound may have done wonders for the girl's bending skills, but Pema guessed it accomplished the inverse for her self-esteem. The poor girl was probably terrified of a masked madman threatening to take the only thing that made her significant to the majority of the world. Especially with the pressure to rescue a sprawling metropolis with hundreds of thousands of people from said criminal, the non-bender could only imagine what she was going through.

It was a while before Korra gathered the bravery to stop stroking her pet's ears and attempt to go back to sleep. Pema diligently stayed hidden outside the same window for the entire time, determined to exercise her motherly care on the avatar. Finally the girl laid back on the pillow and tried to shut her eyes, for she had another long day of training, practice, and Tarrlok's task force ahead of her. Pema moved in to strike at that moment. She drifted into the girl's room, stopping beside the bed in which Korra slept. Naga's ears perked up at the sound of a newcomer, but dropped them just as quickly when she realized it was a familiar pregnant woman, not a late-night snack.

There, Pema did the same that she would have done while tucking in any of the other children. First, she patted and shaped the pillows behind Korra's head, careful not to wake the dormant teen up. The child's neck fell comfortably to the side, her tear-streaked face seeming to brighten up a bit at the kind act by Pema. Next, the pregnant woman lifted the blankets and brought them up above Korra's breast bindings, slightly below her neck, which was in Pema's opinion, the most comfortable location for the covers to go. Smiling at the teenage girl, she couldn't help but imagine her as her own. To satisfy her emotions, Pema knelt down and placed a gentle kiss on Korra's forehead, just as she would have done with Jinora, Ikki, or Meelo.

As she did, Pema, in a wave of compassion, began to realize just how many hardships the girl had been through, not having realized before the ordeals being the Avatar entailed. She knew Korra would have gotten frustrated at Pema for pitying her, but Pema didn't care as long as she was asleep, and Pema couldn't help but imagine all of the horrid troubles that the girl had gone through in her long journey through childhood. Hard workouts and drill instructors replacing life lessons and role models, respectively. Being hidden away from the outside world, trapped in a prison of ice. But most of all, Pema shuddered when she imagined only being allowed to see parents on visiting days, as if Korra were a criminal and bending more than one element were her crime. Pema wondered how the girl had done it without throwing herself out of a window. Left to ponder on her sympathetic thoughts, Pema breathed out of the room just as swiftly and silently as she had came in, making her way back towards her bedroom.

It was only when she was sure that Pema was out of sight and hearing range did Korra end her feigned sleep, opening her eyes and quietly whispering, "Thank you," as she shed a tear, the cause of which she was unsure of.


End file.
